Beggar
by Niawt
Summary: An old beggar living on the streets of Calimport befriends a young street urchin


"Beggar"  
  
Rayn sat despondently on the street corner. Wrapped in a tattered cloak the old man watched the people walking by without throwing the tired beggar a second glance.  
  
Things had once been different, Rayn thought. He had once been the top burglar in the Litornary Guild. Rayn had been in the confidence of his guild leader and had led a comfortable life as the guild's top thief.  
  
That had all changed when Litornary, the leader of the guild, had been assassinated by his lieutenants. That assassination had left Rayn in a dangerous position. The lieutenants knew that Rayn had been loyal to the old leader and they saw him as potential threat to take over the guild. The new leaders had offered Rayn a choice; leave the guild forever or face execution. Rayn had taken the obvious and left his home and life of twenty years.  
  
That episode had been fifteen years ago, Rayn reflected. Since leaving the guild life had not been easy for the thief.  
  
The warring guilds of Calimport marked their turf and defended them aggressively. For the rogue thief, Rayn, finding work had proven impossible. Other guilds saw him as a potential spy and going back to his old guild under the threat of certain execution was not an option.  
  
Rayn found himself roaming the dusty streets of Calimport constantly looking over his shoulder. He was obsessed with the thought that someone was going to murder him for either trespassing on a rival guild's territory or to gain status for killing the once mighty burglar.  
  
Watching his purse getting lighter by the day Rayn had no choice but to take the role as a common beggar. The people he had once sneered at were to be his salvation, of sorts.  
  
He quickly joined a group of street people that squatted outside a fish market. The smells of fish and oysters rotting in the southern sun turned his stomach but no one seemed to bother him. At the market Rayn was able to scrounge a couple of copper coins daily from caring merchants who saw a kind heart through the ragged clothes.  
  
Life continued in the manner for seven long and often sad years until an over zealous captain of the guard attacked the pitiful group, jailing many of them that were too slow to escape, sending the survivors scrambling to escape.  
  
After a few miserable months of eating from garbage that wasn't too rotten Rayn befriended a fellow beggar by the name of Lusius. The two new friends found themselves a lonely street corner that they could call their own and were from then on a fixture there.  
  
Sitting on that dirt street corner has been Rayn's life for the past eight years. He and his companion Lusius spent everyday playing wooden flutes and singing for a few meager coins that would get tossed their way by kind hearted pedestrians. Those few coins would sometimes get them aging leftovers from a nearby tavern.  
  
"Ya dreaming?"  
  
Rayn shook his tired head and looked up at his friend Lusius. He was carrying an old sack covered in patches.  
  
"What's in the sack?" Rayn asked.  
  
"Oh nothing much, just our lunch," Lusius replied.  
  
The two old friends sat on the street eating their meager lunch. Two pieces of stale flat bread dipped in water was lunch for the day. Rayn sat munching on the hard bread contemplating his life. How had things gotten so bad? He thought miserably. One day he had been drinking from golden goblets in the guild's dining room, the next he was eating maggot infested leftovers.  
  
"What's on your mind? You've been acting like you've swallowed some bad grub, for the past week," Lusius said.  
  
Rayn stood up, stroking his mangy grey beard, "I don't know Lusius. I've been thinking a lot recently about how I came to be sitting on this god forsaken street corner and I've realized that I used to have the power to change my life."  
  
"You're saying that you can't change your life?" Lusius asked.  
  
"Exactly," Rayn said. "No matter how much I think about it, I always end up seeing myself sitting on this corner and eating the same rotting flat bread."  
  
Lusius watched his friend throw his lunch to the ground and walk away, his head bowed in defeat. Lusius watched him until Rayn got lost in a crowd and disappeared. Lusius felt sorry for his friend, he had accepted his life and wished that Rayn would.  
  
Rayn walked the streets for hours. He looked at no one; he just kept his eyes locked to his tattered shoes and the ground. His thoughts moved from memory to memory. He thought of his childhood in Amn and his flight from his family to Calimport. He thought of his elven lover, Shelrix, and his apprenticeship into the world of thievery.  
  
His thoughts gradually turned to darker things as he reflected on his leader's murder and his forcible removal from his guild, his home.  
  
"Watch it old man!" Someone cried as Rayn collided with a passerby.  
  
Rayn didn't look up or respond, he just kept on walking. Afternoon became evening; evening became dusk; dusk became night; and still Rayn walked. He kept thinking about his past life. His cracked and burnt face was streaked with salty tears, long dried on his face and with dust clinging to them.  
  
Rayn was bolted out of his reflections when he felt a small hand reach for his pitifully empty money pouch. His reflexes responded and Rayn whirled around and caught the would-be thieves hand in a vice-like grip.  
  
"Sorry master! I didn't mean anything. I just stumbled!"  
  
Rayn looked down at the pickpocket. Though the night sky was dark what he saw brought pity to the man's eyes. The attempted thief was little more than a child of eight years. The little urchin was clothed in what looked to be a castaway shirt that hung like a sack on the boy's emaciated frame. For pants, the boy wore a sack with two holes cut in it for his legs. And for shoes, well it seemed that the boy's dirty feet was all he had.  
  
"What's your name son?" Rayn asked softly, releasing the boy's tiny hand.  
  
"Alix sir," the boy said quietly.  
  
"Well Alix it seems that you've picked the wrong old man to steal from."  
  
"I didn't mean anything by it. It's just that . well I haven't eaten in a long time and I just . need some food. I'm really sorry," Alix paused and looked up at Rayn, "you're not going to hurt me are you?"  
  
Looking at Alix, Rayn felt something break in his heart. Looking at this young homeless little boy was too much. It seemed to Rayn that he had to keep this child safe from the world, regardless of the cost to his own life.  
  
"No my young man, I'm not going to hurt you," Rayn said. "You mentioned that you were hungry?"  
  
Alix nodded his head cautiously, not sure what the man was going to do to him.  
  
"Well young Alix let's see if we can't find you some food."  
  
Rayn took Alix by the hand, this time gently, and the pair walked down the dark road back to Rayn's street corner.  
  
The whole journey Rayn saw Alix's eyes dart back and forth, as if he was expecting someone to come out and tear him away from the kind old man who was now his friend.  
  
Rayn noticed the boy's grip getting tighter as they walked along. Rayn decided to ask the child about his past.  
  
"Alix, how did you come to live on the street?"  
  
"Well sir I think you should tell me your name first. My mother always told me it was polite to ask someone's name when you first meet them."  
  
Rayn chuckled at the boy's spirited answer. "Well young master my name is Rayn. My friend Lusius and myself live on the street just as you do. We don't have any money but we sing songs and play flutes and people sometimes give us what we need. Some days we don't eat and other days we do. I have lived like this for longer than you have lived."  
  
Alix looked up at Rayn. To the boy's eyes it seemed that Rayn was a hundred years old. "How old are you?" Alix asked.  
  
Rayn laughed his first real laugh in a long time. "I'm one hundred years old," Rayn said with a twinkle in his eye.  
  
Alix whistled, "Wow you're really old!"  
  
The two chatted as they drew closer to Rayn's home. Alix told Rayn about how his mother and father had been thrown into debtor's prison and how he had been forced to live on the street for the last three months. Alix told the older man about how bigger boys had beaten him up and taking his clothes and how he had shared his bed with rats that bit his arms and legs when he fell asleep.  
  
Rayn comforted the young boy who had broken into tears at the telling of his story. "It's ok my lad, soon me and Lusius will have your belly filled with hot food and don't worry about the rats while you're sleeping. Lusius likes to eat rats so they don't bother us."  
  
Alix sniffled away his tears and tried his best to smile at Rayn. "He really eats rats?"  
  
"Oh yes! My stars, Lusius could eat rats all day long if you let him."  
  
"Yuck," said Alix was a look of disgust on his face.  
  
When Rayn and Alix arrived at Rayn's little street corner Lusius wasn't surprised to see the young boy clinging to his friend's arm. "So who's the little runt?"  
  
"I'm not a runt, I am eight years old . and YOU eat RATS!" Alix shouted at Lusius.  
  
"Well young master, my name is Lusius and, I don't eat rats . unless they are well cooked."  
  
"He tried to pick my pocket and couldn't just leave him alone on the street," Rayn explained.  
  
That reasoning seemed to be enough for Lusius. He was pleased to see his friend's spirits lifted and young Alix had already wormed his way into Lusius' heart.  
  
The two men rummaged up some old bread and some dried fruit, which they had been saving for a special occasion, which Alix devoured in what seemed seconds.  
  
"What are you going to do with him?" Lusius asked.  
  
Rayn looked at his friend and sighed, "I don't know. We can't just send him on his way, and if he stays here with us at least he will be safe."  
  
That answer seemed to agree with Lusius for the time being. The two old men looked at the sleeping boy and shook their heads. What hope could the child have for a good life in a city like this? They both thought.  
  
The men slowly fell asleep with Alix tucked protectively between them. Rayn felt the boy nuzzle up to him and whimper quietly in his sleep.  
  
The next few days were bliss for Rayn. He was delighted watching Lusius teach Alix how to play the flute and Rayn taught the boy a few tumbling moves that seemed to charm the passing pedestrians. The worn hat that Rayn put out everyday, quickly filled with copper and silver coins whenever the boy practiced his moves.  
  
At night, the Rayn and Lusius took turns telling stories to Alix. The two delighted in watching his face as the often scary stories moved along.  
  
"But why?" Was the common question that came out of Alix's mouth during the stories.  
  
As the weeks passed Rayn began to feel ill. His lungs seemed constantly clogged and a fever began to take over his body that didn't seem to break.  
  
Alix and Lusius tried to make Rayn feel comfortable with blankets and hot broth but they did little to help the dying man.  
  
One particularly hot night Rayn called Alix to his side. Rayn grunted and in pain as he sat himself up. "Come here my young friend, I have something to tell you."  
  
Alix sat down beside his dying protector, "Ok Paddy I'm here." Paddy was Alix's nickname for Rayn.  
  
"I'm passing away Alix," Rayn said with tears in his eyes. "But don't let death scare you, everybody dies eventually."  
  
Rayn looked at Alix who was bravely trying not to cry.  
  
"It's ok my boy, I'm ready to go. Saving you and bringing you here has been my redemption. I have lived a long life filled with laughter and sorrow but watching you grow these last few weeks has brought joy to my heart."  
  
"But you can't die yet!" Alix cried, wrapping his arms around Rayn and sobbing into the man's chest.  
  
"It is my time Alix. Everybody has a time when they must sleep forever. I am going to a better place like one day you will yourself."  
  
"Will I see you again?" Alix asked, biting back the sobs.  
  
"If fate decides so Alix then we will be together. Let's pray that we will meet again."  
  
Rayn soon slipped into unconsciousness. Alix and Lusius at beside their friend as life slowly left his body. By the time the morning sun had crept over the sun, Rayn was gone. Lusius and Alix wept over the body of their friend and protector.  
  
In later years Alix would grow into a determined and skilled young man. Whenever he saw a tired old beggar on the street he was always reminded of that kind old man that saved him.  
  
**** 


End file.
